The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-06-08
MARY JAMES TRAVELS.
AN ANCIENT MAID AND A ROMAN
TIC MAIDEN ABROAD.
Their Experience on the Boundless BIZ
lows of the Atlantic Ocean-What They
Found of Int crest when They Reached
the shores OF Merrie England.

popular some years ago in The Louisville Courier
Journal. Tie writer is enjoying "A vacation in
| England and the continent u Europe, and II Is
expected that the letters will prove very attrac-
tive
PLYMOUTH, England, May 2s.-Three
months ago, when | stated TO my friends in
America that | intended making a summer
"Trip TO Europe, they held up their hands in
| holy horror and shrieked out that it was per
| fectly awful
"Why," said they, lit is preposterous for
| you, "A woman, 30 20 off on such a long
| journey without an esc0rt,7
"But," said I, calmly. II am not going
without an escort. Dickey who is as young
and romantic a girl AS | am a 81 and prac-
teal woman, will accompany me- and if an
| American combination Of that sort isn't
equal 10 combined Europe, | am mistaken
in the character Of the average American
woman, that's ALL
From that time until the date Of our de
parture every effort was made TO dssuade US
from our mad undertaking. as they called
| IL, but Dckey and had done some domestic
| travelling before, and were not % be- scared
| off from attempting the foreign variety. Our
| preparations were not elaborate or expensive.
Enough clothing TO meet ordinary wants was
all we thought necessary, and the least
amount Of baggage was our chief considera-
ton We bought tickets via the Hamburg
American line because that gave us choice Of
landing i'm England, France or Germany, as
our whim might be, and we stood forth be
fore our friends ready TO go 10 Europe.
We had by this time become heroines, and
I really believe | could have enlisted dozen
women TO have gone under our banners,
but we didn't want them, for the
more women you have on hand the
more trouble you have on hand, and two is
always company while more is "A crowd, and
j hate crowds Arriving in New York a
day before sailing, we visited one or two out
fitting establishments, and bought chairs. sea
sick medicine, and such other things as were
recommended. all Of which, except the chairs,
We found entirely unnecessary Men can get
| along without the chairs but for woman
chair and a rug dap robe are very desirable.
So one Thursday afternoon at ( o'clock found
Us on the deck of our steamer, in her dock al
HobOken, and about Us We're a hundred Ger
man citizens, half Of whom had come % tell
the other half good by, and as we stood
among them, knowing only the English
tongue. felt for an instant like catching up
my skirts and scootng for home But Dickey
was jolly.
"Alary Jane. said She ~ like this
But said |, "there is no pleasure in hear
ing everybody talking and not understanding
a word that is said"
why said she in surprise "it's the most
natural thing in the world Did you ever in
your life hear forty women, Of any race or
language, all talking at once and understand
a word they said' If you did, it's more than
! can say for myself and | have frequently
been one of the forty
A minute or two later she said something
about lIobolen, ana Hoboken being as diff
cult of comprehension TO the untutored mind
a. German. and began TO recover my foot
ing and pretty soon felt glad 20 be there.
just as the steamer backed out the usual three
haplcd man right hand, left hand and
little behind hand-chestnutJ came tearing
through the crowd 30 get on board But Doe
missed il, and it cost him so 70 catch up
with us in a tug and climb up the ships side
on rope ladder He got his moneys worth,
though, presume, in being the only passenger
who had climbed in over the trans0m, SO %
speak, and having a sort of "A rope ladder halo
Of glory thrown about him by those who had
simply walked aboard on the gang plank like
"dumb, driven cattle"
! However brave one may be there is i'm leav-
ing the land for the first time peculiar feel
ing and us the shores recede from sight and
the great sea, crossed by a thousand vessels
courses and yet unmarked, spreads out In 10.
mystery, is silence and its danger. there comes
a sensation Of terror, before which human
helplessness bows in absolute submission.
There is, too, a sentiment in departure from
the land Of ones nativity; the going out from
the old TO the new, the forsaking Of the known
for the unknown, and this finds expression in
a peculiar sadness, which ! believe is called
forth only by the sea. have been out Of the
country on several occasions by land and !
had no such feeling as have endeayored %
explain possessed me when the rolling sea
touched the horizon and shut the last land
from view
We had a good dinner, first rate dinner, l
may say, and thus REINFORCED we came
up on deck and watched the stars,
"the common people Of the sky come
out for their evening promenade, and
passed a delightful evening and at It's close |
went % bed with sense Of restful ease and
luxurious motion that never comes 20 those
whodo not "go down 10 the sea in ships
Friday was beautiful day, and the merry
waves danced gracefully in the sunshn- until
the night came again, and when the dinner
bell rang at o'clock we knew more than
half Of our fifty-and-oid German passengers.
There were only four Americans Oh board,
except ourselves, but almost every German
was an American in patriotic enthusiasm, and
the men talked politics iiuently in two Ian
cuages We had representatives from Ne
braska. California, Texas, Iowa, Illinois,
PENNSYLVANIA, Ohio and New York and every
man Of them had made money in the land u
the free and was going back 10 Fatherland 10
see the old folks al home There was also one
from Guatemala and one from BuenOs Ayres,
both merchants and both rich. One rather
unusual case was that Of Texas German
who had served in the Confederate army.
He told me one Texas regiment had an entire
company OF Germans | didn't know until
he told me that for forty years the Germans
=.